A/N- well, votes so far have dictated that this one come first! Thank you all for the votes, and now to show you what you voted for! Or what the people that voted for this one voted for. It had the most votes.

Also, this would have come out Sunday, but had connection problems yet again. -Sigh- least it's working now.


MASS MICALCULATION

Episode 24- Hunting the past


In a darkened room with no light save for a spot in the middle, Aaron sat in a ornate blue chair, eyes closed as he was resting.

"Aaron…hey Aaron man…over here…" a voice called.

Aaron's eyes opened and looked towards the location where the voice called. Immediately he tilted his head back and at the same time lifted his sunglasses.

In front of him was what looked like a cartoon-drawn city, with random cartoon things going around. In the center was a floating cartoon man wearing a tank top and boxers, scratching the stubble on his chin. He had round, black sunglasses with blue arms on his eyes, and a shaved head.

"So who are you, cartoon man?" Aaron asked, putting his own sunglasses in place.

"I'm the spirit of your sword, man. Names Bruce" the cartoon smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Aaron grunted in agitation and got out of the chair. "Kind of expected a cooler name for a laser sword of death"

"Heh" Bruce teleported next to Aaron. "Hey man, after all we went through your going to dis my name like that?" his face darkened. "You know I don't much appreciate that"

Aaron turned around and started walking away. "I'm just going to assume this is a wonky-ass dream. I'm leaving"

"Hey you can't just leave!" Bruce waved his arms. "Hey man, I got something important to say! You need to-" Bruce was cut off as rapid gunfire shredded Bruce to pieces.

Aaron whipped around to see a young man in a black trench coat and black hair with blue eyes, holding the O.M.G. and also looked like a cartoon, albeit better drawn. "You blundering idiot" the boy sighed.

"And you are…?" Aaron asked.

"I'm the spirit of your gun, Adrian" he answered simply, and sat down, staring wistfully at the sunset.

"Hey you jerk!" Bruce appeared, completely healed, waving the lazor razor in Adrian's face. "You said you would quit doin' that!"

"I promised nothing. The only promise made was by Max" Adrian's coat and hair turned white, his eyes glowing red.

"And I only promised to stop blowin' you up, biatch!" Max said, who's voice was much more rash than Adrian's more calm voice.

Max turned back into Adrian. "Behave, you two. Aaron" he sat unmoving on the ledge, continuing to stare in the distance. "Living with these two ever since we came to be, you learn. You learn that when dealing with those less mature than you, to find a medium. Find common ground. Remember that"

Aaron nodded slowly. "um, yeah…I will"

"Excellent. Now…you must wake up" as Adrian uttered these words the cartoon world dissolved, Aaron screaming as he was falling down a black hole.


Aaron's eyes opened as he sat up in the bed, awake from the dream. He sighed, shaking his head. Than something was disturbing his left eye, like something was shining in it. He moved his hand in front of is face to block the light, a tealish dot on his hand. The got was connected to a laser line leading outside the window to his room. Immediately twenty more dots appeared on Aaron's body.

"Oh shit!" he realized what the dots were and dove out of bed as sniper rounds burst through the window and shredded the bed apart, using his shoulder to bash through the door and run into the hallway.

On the rooftop adjacent to the Saints HQ penthouse, a multitude of snipers were perched on a rooftop, sporting incisor rifles. The snipers had black armor on, with a dark camo colored undersuit, the sniper helmets having only one eye-sized teal colored light on the left side of the helmet, teal lights dotting other parts of the armor.

"Target missed" one of the snipers reported.

"Meh, don't worry about it lads" the voice of someone said over the radio. "Their little freak is only a secondary objective, the main one is in the building. Once the heavy squads breach the doors I want all of Razor Squad to swarm the building. Don't leave a Saint standing in your way. Find the target, crush him. If you can wipe their leader or Aaron out if you run into them"

"Roger, move out!" the sniper shouted to the rest, the snipers engaging active cloak as they moved of the building.


More heavily armored mercenaries gathered at the doors leading into HQ, the helmets on these ones being a teal glowing visor across the faceplate. Charges were placed on all doors.

"Breach!" they all said, the doors blowing off as hey stomped in pairs, more mercs flooding in behind them. Some Saints tried to stop them, but the heavies deployed a shield from their left hand, a holographic shield made of blue transparent hexagons, a small opening at the top to see through. In their right hands they brandishes revenant machine guns, mowing down the Saints as they continued, the mercs swarming all around the building.


A merc screamed as he was tossed out a window, Gat in his armor punching another one to death, than brandished his two knives. "Boss, you seeing these guys!?"

"Yeah!" Boss came in, walking backwards as he was firing his zin rifle at specialists, mercs who's helmets had two eye visors and wielded tempest submachine guns. They kept deploying odd, teal shaped drones that looked more like ships than orbs, who kept running into the Saints and blowing up.

"And here I thought that all the drones in this world were only spherical in nature!" a merc was pinned to the wall by a certain sword, Aaron sprinting to it and grabbing the sword. "These guys aren't the usual garden variety mercs" he noted.

"Yeah" a sniper decloaked next to Gat and tried to stab him with a omni-blade, but he blocked the arm with the blade and stabbed the merc in the head with a knife. "These guys are coordinated, smart, well-equipped…"

"Man this is Morningstar all over again" Boss spat, setting a heavy on fire and forcing him to drop the shield, then froze and shattered him. "Where is everyone?"

"All the Saints are scattered around here, these mercs are everywhere. What's the plan, Boss?" Aaron asked as a black gunship hovered behind him, outside.

"Deal with that!" Boss shouted, he and Gat diving out of the way, Aaron turning around and doing the same as the ship opened fire.


Grunt roared as he smashed a merc into a wall, crushing her head. Frelak saw this and grunted in agitation as shot another merc.

"And that right there is why I left Tuchanka; bloodthirsty idiots like you"

Behind Frelak and crouched behind a counter, Robert stared at the floor in front of him, which had the remnants of his shot-up coffee cup and spilled coffee. "-Sigh- life of a gangster…" he popped up and flared his omni-tool up.

"Target sighted!" one merc shouted, rifle fire pinging behind Robert, causing him to go back into cover.

"How come they keep shooting at me!?" he complained. Bringing his omni-tool to his mouth. "Anyone reading me?"

"Yeah, it's Pierce, holla at me" at saying this, Robert heard a slurping sound.

"What the f- are you drinking something Pierce!?"

"Well…Shandie has these dudes on our end handled, I found some coffee…I'm just chilling"

"PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL US AND YOUR SITTING ON YOUR ASS DRINKING COFFEE!?"

"…That a bad thing?"

"Just…either help out or bring me some. Robert out" Robert switched channels on his omni-tool, saying, "Aaron, you out there?"

Robert was met with a scream, and looked out a window to the side, a black gunship crashing through the window, the collision killing the mercs in the room. Aaron stumbled away from the wreckage.

"Present…" he said weakly, holding a finger up, before falling down.

A elevator door opened, Boss running out. "Okay, I think we got most of these guys, Saints are clearing the rest" he looked at a dead heavy and nudged it with his foot. "Who the hell's trying to pop us by sending mercs armed with revenants? That right there is overkill"

"I don't know" Aaron got up off the floor. "Whoever they are, they have it in for us"

Just then, the elevator door Boss came from re-opened, a Saint gang member stumbling out…with multiple knives stabbing into his back and going through his chest.

"He…help…" was all he could stammer out before he crumpled on the ground and died.

Behind him came a bald man with a scar over his right eye, two long knives in his hands. He was lightly armored with it being colored black, a black cape going from his waist down.. Most of the armor was covered by big, black bags.

"Well, looky that. You managed to kill off all of Razor. I'm impressed" he crossed his arms.

Boss crossed his arms in a mocking manner. "And you are?"

"You can call me former knight-lieutenant Mezner. Or just Mez if you prefer"

"Knight?" Aaron asked. "What kind of- just why knight?"

"Used to be a N7 in the Alliance Corps. Was in the Slayer Vanguard branch. We tended to be a religious bunch, so we took after this attire"

"That explain the…cape thing on the waist?" Aaron pointed to said cape.

Mez spread his arms, frowning. "Yes. You see I'm here for one reason and one reason only; to kill one of you blokes"

Looking at the impaled Saint, Boss commented, "well looks like you already did that"

"Not just a random Saint, you idiot!" Mezner snapped.

Aaron rolled his head. "Well, what exactly are you going to do? Against all us?" he gestured to the other Saints in the room.

Mezner chuckled. "I was hoping you'd say that" he pulled a chord on his armor, the bags covering him falling to the ground. Blue biotics glowed around his body as the bags opened, hundreds of long, monomolecular blades floating up, covered and strengthened with biotic energy. A black, featurless helmet folded over Mezner's face. "Well?" he taunted.

"You got skill, I'll give you that" Boss took out a hilt of some kind, igniting a purple version of Aaron's sword, a lens being made from the gem they lifted. "But so do we"

"As long as you don't just swing that thing like a baseball bat" Aaron commented.

"Look, if I can kill Jyunichi with a sword, I think I can-"

"Enough!" Mezner spread his arms forwards, the knives flying towards them. Boss sprinted towards him and tried to punch Mezner, but the knives formed into a wall, blocking the punch. Boss tried to use his sword to cut his way through, but the wall held strong.

"What the hell kind of biotic is this guy!?" Aaron questioned as he vaulted and jumped around the room, avoiding the knives as best he could. He rolled on the ground and formed a machine gun, screaming as he unloaded a barrage of bullets at Mezner.

Mezner grunted with effort as he guided the knives to swirl around him, deflecting the bullets while he flung a few at Aaron, pinning him to the wall.

A few shotgun blasts directed him to the two krogan in the room, he brought his arm back about to impale them when his knives were stuck in midair, Aaron, still being pinned to the wall, holding them with telekinesis.

"Heh, nice try. You can't hold them all though!" the lights flickered as Boss drew energy into his power suit, sprinting at Mezner yet again at super speed. He tried forming a wall again, but Boss gripped it and slowly pried the knife wall apart. The knives dispersed, stumbling Boss as they floated and aimed behind him. Aaron copied this method by aiming the knives he was holding in the air at Mezner and releasing them, Mezner being unable to do anything as they were flung at him, a few impaling his body but still leaving him standing.

"Try again!" More knives were flung at Aaron, who ripped through the knives impaling him and used a super stomp to send the knives flying away. He got his black and blue sword out and with Boss, they both slashed at Mezner, who used two knife halos to cross the blades. The two overcame them however and aimed the tips of the swords at his chest, running at him.

"Don't-!" he yelped, but it was too late as the swords impaled him, the two pinning him to the wall. Coughing up blood, he muttered, "well…you beat…me…"

Aaron grabbed his head. "Talk. Who are you guys?"

"Heh heh heh…never heard of CAT6?"

"…You're a gang of mercs with a cat fetish?" Boss guessed.

Mezner tried to snarl at Boss, but more blood flowed from his mouth while Aaron hung his head for what Boss said. "No, you idiot…CAT6? Category six?"

Robert got out from behind the counter. "Category six…only means one thing…"

"You know what this guy's talking about?" Aaron raised his head to look at Robert, who nodded.

"Yeah, being former Alliance. Category six was when a soldier did something so bad they were dishonorably discharged. Usually for things like killing without restraint or steroid use, that kind of thing"

"Heh, yep. Bunch of us CAT6's got together and used out heads to figure out we all had military training, might as well use it" he glanced at Robert. "Funny you should mention that, really"

"Really?" Robert tilted his head.

"Yeah…considering you're the one we wanted to kill…"

"What!?" Robert walked up to Mezner and pulled his stiletto pistol out. Boss and Aaon backed off, knowing he only used that gun when he wanted to get serious. "Why me? Who the hell sent CAT6 after me!?"

"Feh, why should I tell you? I'm dead anyway"

Saying this, Robert shot the impaled man in both knees. "Because in the few seconds we just talked you've gained more insight in life"

"Bastard" Mezner gritted his teeth as his legs hung limp. "You think they'll let me talk? Let you find out?" as he said this, Mezner's body started to glow a sickly blue, parts starting to disintegrate.

"The fuck…" Boss wasn't able to think as the mans body slowly started to disintegrate, the rest looking on in shock.

"Fine. Fucker got my friends killed on this job, never should have took it. So, might as well piss a little wisdom on you in spite. The name…Sohto mean anything to you?"

Robert was still for a few minutes. Then slowly his eyes started to turn to rage, yelling as he brought his pistol up to the merc's forehead, shooting him multiple times in the head.

"Fucker! Fucker! Fucker!" he stopped shooting and turned around, kicking a chair.

"Whoa man, Rob! Chill dude, who the hell's Sohto?" Aaron put a hand on Robert's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"That…that fucker…oh he already crossed the line a long time ago, but now? He's dead now"

"Robert! Who the hell's Sohto?" Aaron shook Robert's shoulder's, who shrugged him off.

At that moment the elevator door opened once again, Kinzie stepping out. "Boss, we took care of the rest of…wha…" she looked at Mezner's corpse, which was now fully disintegrated, ashes remaining. All the Saints in the room gazed at each-other, Boss holding his hands up. "Okay guys, we've run into a lot of craziness tonight, let's just…clean up here, find out what this dudes deal is, then find out Robert's deal"


While the zin cleaned the HQ out and Kinzie used the zin labs to look over Mezner's remains, Boss and Aaron sat next to Robert on the sofa in the penthouse, Robert drinking his normal coffee.

"I told you guys about the ship I commanded, right? The Gibralter?"

"Yeah, you XO'd the ship after getting away from that gang you were in when the leader died, but you never said what happened after that" Aaron pointed out, Boss nodding in agreement.

"No, I didn't XO it, I XO'd the Los Horcones. There was a batarian slaver fleet, a bunch of ships were brought up to defend this colony, I was temporarily taken off XO duty on the Horcones to captain the Gibralter. We managed to fend the slavers off, and as we were chasing them off, the Gibralter picked up this signal from a yacht"

"A yacht in space?" Boss asked.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised"

"Man, we gotta get one of those…"

"Anyway the transponder was off, and we assumed the place was overtaken by pirates. I got on board and found the exact opposite. The elder son of some fat cat politician, guy in parliament, was doing up red sand with a bunch of his buddies, and when the father found out he got me demoted to shut me up. Permanently"

"Damn, that's rough" Aaron winced. "So what happened?"

"Got sent to the SSV Kraaipan as a chief engineer, a ship where Alliance soldiers and officers who rubbed powerful politicians the wrong way got beached. Got stuck in a low enough position that nobody would believe me if I spilled the coffee beans about his son. So, after you showed up in the galaxy after the Citadel Battle I resigned, went to the yard where you found me…you know the rest"

"And let me guess…" Boss had just figured out why Robert was so angry.

"Yep. Politician's last name was Sohto. The same guy, who killed my career, is now trying to kill me. So yeah, when I found out, I got pissed" Robert set the coffee down, glaring ahead at the wall. "I'm going after him" was all he said. "I've been pushed around enough in life, I ain't standing for it anymore"

"Well shit, let's go" Boss got up, cracking his knuckles.

"Huh?" Robert glanced at Boss confused.

"Dude, you're a homie" Aaron put his feet up, lacing his hands behind his head. "We ain't gonna leave a homie hanging. Especially when the problem is a bullshit politician who thinks he has the balls to attack us in our home and try to kill us. Fuckers gotta pay"

Robert smirked. "Okay. So, we just need to find out where to get him"

"I think I can help" Kasumi uncloaked between the three, the three in question having gotten used to her and not jumping anymore.

"You track the dude?" Boss asked.

"No, but I did track the son. He and his brother is having some party, at…guess what, Illium" she pulled up her 'tool. "Yeah, at some penthouse at the other side of the city. Security looks dull, you three shouldn't have much problem"

"Alright then, let's go. Aaron, get a XOR. Me and Robert will meet you"


The XOR in question was a hovercraft of zin making. A thin, dynamic looking ship, it was re-colored silver with purple lights and a fleur, the ship being able to go into separate hover modes and a flight mode. Currently the three Saints were riding towards the location Kasumi had marked for them.

Robert was cleaning his gun when Aaron glanced at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just…mad. It doesn't make sense, why now? Why NOW does he decide to try and kill me? Why not when I first found out?"

Aaron shrugged. "Makes sense if you think about it. Picture it like this; highly decorated Alliance guy finds your son doing illegal drugs. You kill him and it looks suspicious. Demote him, and no-one will believe some low-level mechanic, problem solved. But then we come in, and you just happen to have become a top lieutenant. And when you're a top lieutenant to the most powerful gang in the galaxy who people fear, revel, and for some reason make merchandise off us, and he spills the beans about the son, people are liable to believe him. NOW if he's killed, that won't look suspicious, a gang member with that status killed could just be written off as a shootout or something. But he ran into the problem that we can't be killed by low-level mercs"

"Those guys were anything BUT low-level" Boss argued from the pilot's seat. "The guys were professionals, well equipped. Managed to actually clip a few of us"

"Then there was that one guy, Mezner" Robert reminded. "No way was he a normal biotic. Kinzie ever get back to you on why the guy got burnt?"

"Lemme ask" Boss opened his omni-tool. "Yo, Kinzie?"

"Yeah?" the woman's voice asked from the other side of the line.

"Ever find out what the deal was with that Mezner dude?"

"Yeah, it's really interesting really" some typing was heard from the other end. "The guy was designed so no evidence could be left on his corpse, a failsafe. Zin tech is literally the only thing that could even pick up a trace of what he is"

"Which was…?"

"It's…odd really. You know how human biotics need a brain implant to make their biotics powerful enough to weaponize?"

"Yeah, they got L1, which is shit, L2, not as much shit but still shit, than L3-L5 with varying models, the L5 models being the most powerful" Boss explained, reading an article off the internet from the 'tool.

"You got that off the internet, didn't you?"

"…What'd you find out?"

"Well, he…he doesn't have a amp"

"What?" Boss frowned, shaking his head. "Nuh-uh, no way. How?"

"Well, it's more like…he has more than one amp, just not in the brain. It's like there's…nanobots in his bloodtream, each acting as a amp. I'd say each one would be more powerful than a L5...possibly a L7"

"L7? What about 6?"

"I hacked into Alliance mainframes, zin tech makes that pretty easy. A L6 was made, prototype, real black-ops top secret shit. Really under wraps"

"Shit…how many nanoamps this guy have?"

"Gonna have to say about five percent of his blood was replaced by those things"

"That many amps…"

"Yeah, and the kicker is he wasn't that much powerful of a biotic before the augmentation if his records have anything to go by. Thousands of amps in his body…hate to see what'd anyone look like above five percent"

"Who the hell has that kind of tech for nanoamps? Something get stolen from us?"

"No, other than building purposes, zin don't use nanomachines much, and believe me, there hasn't been a leak. So no, not zin tech"

"Hm…remind me to tell Zinny to find some creative projects with nanos. Find anything else?"

"Not really, just the tiny bots. They act as amps, and biotically kill the body. Seems they act as a transmitter to, whoever receives the signal sees their health monitors, what they see, hear, say…probably what they even think"

"Damn. Kinzie, look, uh, we gotta roll up on this dude soon, talk to you later"

"Right" she cut the connection off as Boss continued driving, narrowly avoiding traffic as he drove past the speed limit, swerving like a madman.

"So, what's with the stiletto?" Aaron asked Robert.

"Used to run into a small gang, was ran by a guy named Mark. Gave me this since he had family member serve in the Contact War. Gave this to me before he died"

"Harsh" the ride was getting bumpy, Aaron turning his head to Boss. "Why'd we let you drive?" he asked. Boss didn't have the best track record for driving.

"Hey, least we didn't crash this time. Anyways we're here" he put the helmet to his power suit on. "You guys good to go?"

Aaron nodded, forming a magnum, and Robert's power armor folded over his form, being black with a orange trim, a orange fleur on the chest and a gear-shaped symbol on the visor. He held up his stiletto, saying, "let's go"


Adam Sohto drank more alcohol by the bar, his older brother dancing on the dance floor with some asari girls. He sighed mentally- this kind of thing, the partys, the girls, the drugs…this was why their father always looked bad in front of the committee. He was the supposed to be the mature one of this family, between the two of them, but no…he always had to have his powerfill.

"Yo man, you got to learn to unwind!" Marvin, Adam's brother said, dancing his way over to him. "It's not like we're hurting anyone by partying in a loft I rented out!"

"You always do this, it, it gets old, okay? Can't you just do something normal? For once?"

Marvin scoffed. "Dude you need to take a chill pill. What could possibly-"

"Hey, what's that?" one of the asari dancers asked, pointing outside the window as the XOR flew it's way towards them.

"I don't know" Marvin squinted. "Kinda looks like-"

"Get down!" Adam grabbed both people and made them dive to the ground as two purple, energy-like rockets shot out of the ship, blowing a hole in the wall. The ship that blasted the hole hovered next to it, and in three swirling rings of energy the three Saints materialized, teleportation the only means of getting in and out of XOR's. Everyone screamed even more when they saw one of the figures was Aaron.

Said virtual Saint held his magnum in the air and fired. "Okay, you all know the drill! Face down, hands over heads, don't say a peep or we blow your brains out. Speaking if which!" he turned towards the doorway and fired at two security guards that ran through, popping them both in the head.

"Unless you all want to follow their examples, down!" Boss yelled, pointing his zin rifle at the crowd, who did what he instructed and got down.

Robert walked among the downed guests, stopping at one. "This one. This one right here" he picked Marvin up, holding his pistol to his head, walking him away.

"Hey man, you can't do this! I got rights!" Marvin complained, Robert pushing his back.

"So did I" was all Robert said.

Adam saw his brother being taken away, and got up to protest. "Hey, you can't take him! Take me if you have to but-"

Adam was cut off as a shot from the stiletto went into his forehead, the body crumpling to the ground.

Marvin screamed in agony as he watched his brother die, trying to wrestle out of Robert's grasp. "You bastards!" he shouted, "he was my goddamn brother! What the hell do you want with me!?"

"Dear old dad" was all Robert said as the group teleported into the XOR, the vehicle flying off.

Strapping Marvin into a chair, he spat at Robert. "My dad!? You killed my brother for my fucking dad!? What the hell do you want with him, money? He's got money!"

"Nope, not money" Robert, for dramatic effect, took the helmet of his armor off, Marvin growling once he saw his face. "Remember me?" he asked.

"You…you're that Alliance punk that found me doing sand! What the hell, what did I do to you!?"

"Your father put me at the lowest of the low to shut me up! All my life I keep getting screwed, so you know what? I'm screwing you. Your daddy, kid? He's a dead man" with that Robert punched Marvin, knocking him out. "C'mon" he gestured to Aaron and Boss. "I got some revenge to get"


"Mr. Sohto! Mr. Sohto! You need to see this!"

Mr. Sohto, and aging man, sighed as he got out from behind his office desk, looking at the intern that just barged into his office. He had enough to worry about, what with the wages that his son's raves kept throwing at him, and keeping Robert quiet. He didn't need another interruption.

"And what exactly is it?" he snapped, causing the intern to flinch.

"You…you need to see this" he opened up his omni-tool, Mr. Sohto not saying anything as he saw a video of his eldest son Marvin strapped to a chair in a dark room, unconscious, Robert stepping in front of him.

"Mr. Sohto!" Robert greeted, grabbing a coffee cup off camera and taking a sip. "'Member me? The random Alliance officer you decided to give a better handicap than the Williams Curse? The one who found you son in a very compromising state?" he threw the coffee cup at his son, causing it to shatter and Marvin to wake up and whimper. "So! Here's the deal! Your going to give us the location of whatever climatic and secret office you have, then you get your darling boy back. You got a hour before we kill him"

Sohto angrily sighed as the video closed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sir…?" the intern nervously asked.

"Do it" Sohto ordered, the intern nodding and running off while Sohto got back in his chair and lit a cigar.

"Time to test version two for them…"


As the XOR flew towards the large mansion building, a building on a meteorite the ship flew them towards, Aaron leaned in to a driving Boss as he nervously watched Robert.

"Boss, about Robert…"

"Yeah?" Boss glanced at Aaron.

"You think he's taking this a bit…I dunno, too far? For revenge?"

"Aaron you know you would have done the same thing. Hell, we all would have"

"Yeah I know but he killed that kid at the party. And the other one once the video was made"

"Aaron, face it. We're killers. You've committed wholesale slaughter, I've committed wholesale slaughter" Boss looked down. "World's rarely kind to people, Aaron. Life's unfair. For people like us, you, me, Robert, hell all the Saints, life's been especially nasty. Most people would've died at this point for how life's treated them. But life didn't count on us being this strong"

"I know, but-"

"No 'buts' Aaron. You know it as much as I do, once life figures that we're strong enough to resist it tries to kill us. The only way to survive is by killing to kill another day. That's how it is"

"I know, I know" Aaron sat in the chair next to him, swiveling in it.

Boss sighed. "Hey, been thinking of re-opening the Freckle Bitch's franchise over in this world. You dig?"

"That foods awful"

"Yeah, but-"

"Look man you want to start a nasty-ass franchise, talk about it later when we're not about to pop a dude"

"Fine. Buzzkill"


The XOR had landed on the meteor, in front of the manner. The three got out, Boss raising his arms and shouting over comms, "So where the party at? I see literally no guards here whatsoever"

On the comms, the voice of an old man spoke up. "So, Robert…how far the little has risen"

"Fuck you too, old man" Robert flipped off the mansion. "So what, you just giving up? 'Cause either way I'm coming up there to pop your ass"

"Giving up? Dear Robert why would I ever give up on life? I assume you killed my sons?"

"Yep"

"Well in that case if I were to die here my bloodline would end! And that…that I simply can't let happen. So to remedy this, you must die"

"First I need to die to save your reputation, now your life…man your picky in this matter. What exactly can you do to stop us? You have no security"

Mr. Sohto chuckled. "No security? I assume you remember Mezner? And his enhancements?"

"Yeah, where'd you get that stuff anyways?" Aaron asked, stepping up to the mansion. "No way some random politician like you could afford those nanos"

"Oh, they'd kill me if I told you. But I assume you found the results of someone with five percent of their blood replaced by the nanomachines? Well…how about one with twenty five?"

As he said this, a figure appeared on top of the mansion. It was a male, humanoid shape, with a plain blue armor set and a black, polarized visor. He jumped off the roof, biotic thrusters appearing under his hands as he floated towards the trio, before even more energy gathered under his hands as he dropped between them, causing the three to be tossed every which-way.

With the low gravity on the meteor, Aaron floated helplessly as the Biotic biotically charged him, punching him upwards. He repeated this action until Boss had reoriented himself and started sprinting, pulling two zin smg's out and firing them. The Biotic pulled up a biotic shield to deflect the lasers, biotic energy charging at his feet as he sprinted as fast as Boss, throwing a rapid succession of warps at him, which Boss dodged. Suddenly a pair of omni-gel bolas wrapped around the Biotic's feet, trampling him and causing him to smash into a boulder.

The Biotic got up as Robert fired his tempest at him, the barrier the Biotic had holding strong. Unfortunately for the Biotic, he didn't look up as Aaron death-from-aboved him, the explosion sending him flying upwards.

Boss jumped upwards towards the Biotic, pulling the purple lazor sword out, swinging it like a baseball bat and cutting his head off. Doing this, Boss dashed back down to the ground, touching down and tri-fist-bumping with Robert and Aaron, Aaron muttering "skill".

"No! No, that isn't possible!" Mr. Sohto shouted, hyperventilating. "Th-they said he couldn't be beat!"

"Well, that's the thing about super soldiers" Boss said. "No matter if their biotic freaks, aliens that can super jump, clones of giant Russians…usually they fail. Aaron, blow the roof"

Aaron nodded, than formed the Saints CAIN, charging it up.

"What are you…no! No, you wouldn't!" Mr. Sohto shouted, sounds of scrambling heard.

"Oh I would! Boom, bitch!" shouted Aaron, three spheres firing out of the gun. A large, mushroom cloud explosion hit the mansion, blasting a giant hole in the front.

Jumping to the hole, Robert pushed past Boss and Aaron as he looked at Mr. Sohto. He had been lucky enough to grab a breather mask before the mansion was breached, but his arm was pinned under some rubble, immobilizing him.

"So…how the tables have turned" Robert said, brandishing his antique pistol. "Oh, how ironic this is. You try to kill me, I end up doing what I've wanted to do since I found your son on that ship"

"You…you think you can get away with this?" Sohto spat, struggling against the furniture. "I have contacts on the Citadel, you really think they'll let you get away with this?"

"You serious?" Boss barked off a laugh. "Dude. We pissed off every government and merc group out there, just because we can. Do you know how many people we've killed, how many organizations we've toppled? The hell are a few politicians gonna do, give me a subpoena? Please"

"You'll…never get away with this…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, we get it" pulling the stiletto out, Robert commented, "you know I should thank you. Without you fucking up my life, I would have never met the Saints. So thanks. And goodbye" Robert fired a shot off, shattering the lifeline that was Mr. Sohto's mask, Robert watching as he choked to death.

"So…what now?" Aaron asked.

"Go to the nanomod, see if you can't get anything off him" Boss ordered.

Aaron complied and was about to leap out the hole when he turned back to Boss. "Really? 'Nanomod'? We're callin' them that"

"It was either that or John" Boss shrugged. "Just get going"

Aaron rolled his head and jumped out, Boss going to Robert. "So, you feel better?"

Still staring at the body, Robert shrugged. "Yes and no. Sure, I killed the guy. Stopped him from messing with us ever again. But what was the point? There's always someone trying to kill us, someone else'll just pop up in their place"

"Dude, that's the life of every gang, someone always trying to cap out asses. You think it wasn't always like this for the Saints? We take whoever tries to mess with us by the balls and crush 'em"

"Ew"

"Yeah, uh…point is what just happened here was completely natural for people like us. Get used to it"

"Yeah, I will" he turned to Boss. "Thanks man"

"Well any other time you need some sage advice, hit me up"

"Yo, guys!? You, uh…you're gonna wanna see this" Aaron shouted over the comms. Boss and Robert jumped to Aaron's location, which happened to be the resting site of the nanomod.

"What's up?" Boss questioned as Aaron shook his head.

"This is what's up. And it's bad" Aaron reached into the pile of ashes and produced a small emblem, holding it up for the other two to see. Robert just grew confused while Boss growled, taking and holding the emblem up.

"Guess we know where this guy got these things" Aaron deduced.

"That we do…" Boss crushed the emblem, clenching his teeth. "Cerberus…"


Unknown location

The Illusive Man, quiet as ever, was doing his usual task of sitting in his chair, drinking and smoking as he gazed out onto the star he always looked at. Because of the Saints interference, it irked him that the star had changed it's color, instead of the usual mix of red and blue becoming a full purple star. He heard footsteps and, without swiveling his chair, spoke, "Hydra. I assume the operation went well?"

"As well as it could" the distorted voice of Hydra said. "Glad I didn't end up like the ones who weren't compatible with the augmentation…the rejects"

"Yes, well they'll be put to good use. Even broken things have their use. Why have you come?"

"To give you this" handing the Illusive Man a data drive, he plugged it in the chair, a holographic image popping up revealing the nanomod's fight against the Saints, before it was killed.

"It appears it has failed" Hydra mused.

"Not necessarily" the Illusive Man objected, "it kept them occupied. Stalled. Gave them a challenge, even with that armor of theirs…"

Hydra nodded. Their attempts at re-creating the armor always ended in failure, as well as always trying to steal something from the zin. They were just too advanced.

"While we don't know just how they stumbled upon this race and took control of it," Illusive continued, lighting another cigarette, "we have found a work around based on the subjects imbued with the nanomachines. Those reaper husks proved invaluable"

"But still…against three it failed" Hydra argued.

"But against two? Against one even? One with more than twenty five percent of their blood replaced? You underestimate me" a new video popped up on the chair, revealing a video of rows upon rows of nanomods in white and yellow Cerberus armor, a blank, black visor on the helmet.

"We have made dozens, if not hundreds of these soldiers. And we continue to make more. The Saints, the galaxy? They stand no chance of beating an army like this. And when we show the galaxy, that the human race was able to subjugate it, Cerberus will be viewed as the pioneers of it's success"


A/N- Yeah, I know, shorter than usual. This one didn't really have as much…'substance' as I thought it would get, so I kinda just tried to make it as long as possible, hence the beginning which was sorta a joke. Lame way to lengthen the chapter, I know, but hopefully you got at least one laugh out of it. Most likely will just leave it there.

Anyway, as soon as this chapter posts the option for this one on the poll will be removed so no-one else votes for it, such is the fate for every option on the poll as I post the chapters.

And to 'BioshockerN7', I…will try, kind of an unexpected thing to ask, but sure, I'll try.

And guys, I know there might be a few spelling errors or typos in this story. I try to fix them, I really do, but they just happen, almost every piece of literature has at least one spelling mistake, even games. I played the Metro Redux, and saw a bunch of typos in the journals they added, which for a A-rated game is a bit unprofessional, but that's just me. Still good games.

Yeah, that's all the talk-o-meter has for today. Cya.